Method of feeding electronic components and electronic component feeder

ABSTRACT

A method and an apparatus for feeding electronic components are capable of increasing a rate of filling accommodation holes with electronic components. An accommodation plate including accommodation holes, respective openings of which are distributed over a main surface of the accommodation plate, is prepared, and electronic components are loaded onto the main surface of the accommodation plate. A horizontal vibration in an X-axis direction and/or a Y-axis direction and a vertical vibration in a Z-axis direction are applied to the accommodation plate with the main surface of the accommodation plate level. The horizontal and vertical vibrations have an equal number of vibrations and a prescribed phase difference therebetween. The accommodation plate is vibrated so that each of the electronic components is fed into one of the accommodation holes while moving over the main surface of the accommodation plate.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of priority to Japanese PatentApplication No. 2016-237477 filed on Dec. 7, 2016 and is a ContinuationApplication of PCT Application No. PCT/JP2017/043587 filed on Dec. 5,2017. The entire contents of each of these applications are herebyincorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a method of feeding electroniccomponents into accommodation holes provided in an accommodation plateand a feeder that performs this method in order to facilitate handlingof electronic components as workpieces. Herein, an “electroniccomponent” refers to not only an electronic component as a finishedproduct, but also a component that is an intermediate product duringmanufacture of an electronic component and is to be a component for anelectronic component as a finished product, such as a chip-shapedelectronic component body before it is provided with an externalelectrode.

2. Description of the Related Art

A method of feeding electronic components, which is of interest topreferred embodiments of the present invention, is described in JapanesePatent Laid-Open No. 2004-359512, for example. Japanese Patent Laid-OpenNo. 2004-359512 describes a method of preparing an accommodation platewith a plurality of accommodation holes, loading a plurality ofelectronic components onto the accommodation plate, and oscillating theaccommodation plate about a prescribed axis and simultaneously vibratingthe accommodation plate in the direction of the axis, thus feeding eachof the plurality of electronic components into a corresponding one ofthe plurality of accommodation holes while moving the electroniccomponents on the accommodation plate.

In the method described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-359512,the movement of the electronic component on the accommodation plate ismainly triggered by oscillation of the accommodation plate. Theplurality of electronic components thus repeatedly move in one directionand the other direction on the accommodation plate while rolling bygravity as a single mass and also being agitated. Then, those of themoving electronic components, each of which is aligned with acorresponding one of the accommodation holes, are fed into theaccommodation holes.

In the feeding method based on the above principle, an impact of rollingor falling by gravity on the electronic component is relatively large.Consequently, the electronic component may easily become cracked orchipped. In particular, cracking or chipping is serious in a ceramicelectronic component including a component body made of ceramic.

Also, there is a limit on increasing a rate of filling accommodationholes with electronic components, that is, a ratio of the number ofaccommodation holes into which electronic components are fed to thenumber of accommodation holes of the accommodation plate, with the useof the method described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-359512.

It is conceivable that the accommodation plate will be oscillated morefrequently in order to increase the rate of filling accommodation holeswith electronic components. However, the electronic components aresubjected to impact more frequently as the accommodation plate isoscillated more frequently. This undesirably increases the number ofelectronic components that are cracked or chipped.

It is also conceivable that much more electronic components thanaccommodation holes will be loaded onto the accommodation plate in orderto increase the rate of filling accommodation holes with electroniccomponents. However, each electronic component rolling in accordancewith the oscillation of the accommodation plate is subjected to greaterimpact as the number of electronic components loaded onto theaccommodation plate increases. This may undesirably increase the numberof electronic components which are cracked or chipped.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Preferred embodiments of the present invention provide methods offeeding electronic components and electronic component feeders, whichare each resistant to cracking or chipping of electronic componentsbeing handled and are each capable of easily increasing a rate offilling accommodation holes with electronic components.

A preferred embodiment of the present invention is directed to a methodof feeding electronic components which is performed using anaccommodation plate including a plurality of accommodation holes,respective openings of which are distributed over a main surface of theaccommodation plate.

A method of feeding electronic components according to a preferredembodiment of the present invention includes preparing the accommodationplate, and loading a plurality of electronic components onto a mainsurface of the accommodation plate. The method according to thispreferred embodiment of the present invention further includes applyinga horizontal vibration in at least one of an X-axis direction and aY-axis direction and a vertical vibration in a Z-axis direction to theaccommodation plate while keeping the main surface of the accommodationplate level, where the X-axis direction and the Y-axis direction areorthogonal or substantially orthogonal to each other on a horizontalplane and the Z-axis direction is orthogonal or substantially orthogonalto both of the X-axis direction and the Y-axis direction. The applyingof the vibrations to the accommodation plate includes moving theplurality of electronic components over the main surface of theaccommodation plate, and feeding each of the plurality of electroniccomponents into a corresponding one of the plurality of accommodationholes while moving the plurality of electronic components over the mainsurface of the accommodation plate.

In a method according to a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention, the accommodation plate is not oscillated, but a horizontalvibration and a vertical vibration are applied to the accommodationplate while keeping the main surface of the accommodation plate level,thus moving the plurality of electronic components over the main surfaceof the accommodation plate.

Preferably, in a preferred embodiment of the present invention, thehorizontal vibration and the vertical vibration have an equal orsubstantially equal number of vibrations and have a prescribed phasedifference therebetween. This configuration is able to reliably move theelectronic components on the accommodation plate.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the number ofvibrations of the horizontal vibration and the vertical vibration ispreferably about 50 Hz or more. Setting the number of vibrations toabout 50 Hz or more is able to increase the speed at which theelectronic components move on the accommodation plate.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the applying of thevibrations to the accommodation plate may include adjusting the phasedifference between the horizontal vibration and the vertical vibration.Adjusting the phase difference in this manner is able to change thespeed at which the electronic components move on the accommodationplate.

In particular, in the adjusting of the phase difference, the directionin which the electronic components move on the accommodation plate isable to be reversed by reversing the phase difference to be plus orminus.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the applying of thevibrations to the accommodation plate may include adjusting an amplitudeof at least one of the horizontal vibration and the vertical vibration.Adjusting the amplitude in this manner is able to change the speed atwhich the electronic components move on the accommodation plate.

In the feeding of each of the plurality of electronic components into acorresponding one of the plurality of accommodation holes, it may beintended that one electronic component be fed into one accommodationhole or a plurality of electronic components be fed into oneaccommodation hole.

When one electronic component is to be fed into one accommodation holeas in the former case, each of the accommodation holes preferably has adepth dimension equal or substantially equal to a length dimension ofany one side among outside dimensions of each of the electroniccomponents. Such a configuration achieves a state in which one surfaceof the electronic component fed into the accommodation hole is alignedwith the opening of the accommodation hole and is flush with the mainsurface of the accommodation plate, and this one surface supports theelectronic component, which is about to pass through the accommodationhole, and make the movement path of the electronic component flatter.This allows a succeeding electronic component to be moved smoothly onthe accommodation plate.

In particular, each of the electronic components has a rectangular orsubstantially rectangular parallelepiped shape defined by a lengthdimension, a width dimension, and a thickness dimension measured in alength direction, a width direction, and a thickness directionorthogonal or substantially orthogonal to each other, respectively. Whenthe length dimension is largest among the length dimension, the widthdimension, and the thickness dimension, the above operation and effectare achieved more reliably.

More preferably, in a preferred embodiment of the present invention, adepth dimension of each of the accommodation holes is equal orsubstantially equal to the length dimension, and an opening of each ofthe accommodation holes is selected so as not to accept the lengthdimension and so as to accept the width dimension and the thicknessdimension. This configuration allows the electronic component to alwaysbe fed into the accommodation hole in an appropriate orientation. Also,with this configuration, a disadvantage that the electronic componentfed into the accommodation hole falls out of the accommodation hole dueto, for example, the vertical vibration of accommodation plate is lesslikely to occur.

Contrastingly, when the above condition is not satisfied, in the feedingof each of the plurality of electronic components into a correspondingone of the plurality of accommodation holes, an irregular state may becaused, in which some of the electronic components are fed into one ofthe accommodation holes even though one electronic component is to befed into one accommodation hole, or the electronic components are fedinto the accommodation holes in an orientation other than a regularorientation. In this case, further increasing an amplitude of at leastthe vertical vibration is preferably performed in the applying of thevibrations to the accommodation plate in order to resolve the irregularstate.

In a method according to a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention, the applying of the vibrations to the accommodation plate mayfurther include, after the feeding of each of the plurality ofelectronic components into a corresponding one of the plurality ofaccommodation holes, finding the accommodation holes yet to be filled,into which the electronic components have not been fed, and moving theelectronic components which have not been fed into the accommodationholes and remain on the main surface of the accommodation plate towardthe accommodation holes yet to be filled. This configuration increasesthe rate of filling accommodation holes with electronic components in ashort period of time.

Preferably, in a method according to a preferred embodiment of thepresent invention, in the loading of the plurality of electroniccomponents onto the main surface of the accommodation plate, a largernumber of electronic components than the accommodation holes are loaded.This more easily achieves a rate of 100% of filling accommodation holeswith electronic components.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, when a plurality ofelectronic components are to be fed into one accommodation hole asdescribed above, the accommodation hole has a longitudinal opening whichallows some of the electronic components to be fed thereinto in acolumn.

When the accommodation plate is removable from the feeder, a preferredembodiment of the present invention may further include removing theaccommodation plate with some of the accommodation holes filled with theelectronic components.

In the above case, a plurality of the accommodation plates may beprepared, and the feeding of each of the plurality of electroniccomponents into a corresponding one of the plurality of accommodationholes may be performed with a plurality of the main surfaces of theplurality of accommodation plates being flush with each other, and inthe removing of the accommodation plate, the plurality of accommodationplates may be removed at different points in time. With thisconfiguration, the accommodation plates are able to be sequentially sentto a following step starting from any accommodation plate in which aplurality of accommodation holes have been filled with electroniccomponents, leading to efficient progress of steps. Also, one vibrationimparting mechanism is able to be shared by a plurality of accommodationplates.

A preferred embodiment of the present invention is also directed to anelectronic component feeder which performs the method of feedingelectronic components described above.

Since each of the preferred embodiments of the present invention moves aplurality of electronic components over the main surface of theaccommodation plate by applying a horizontal vibration and a verticalvibration to the accommodation plate, the impact on the electroniccomponents is able to be reduced when the accommodation plate isoscillated. The electronic components are thus resistant to cracking orchipping.

Since the horizontal vibration and the vertical vibration describedabove allow a plurality of electronic components on an accommodationplate to move over the main surface of the accommodation plate whilebeing agitated very little or not at all, the plurality of electroniccomponents are more easily fed into accommodation holes. Also, since animpact on the electronic component is smaller as described above, thefollowing manner may be used without any problem in order to increasethe rate of filling accommodation holes with electronic components: forexample, the movement of electronic components is repeated, or a largernumber of electronic components than accommodation holes are loaded ontothe accommodation plate. The rate of filling accommodation holes withelectronic components is thus able to be increased relatively easily.

The above and other elements, features, steps, characteristics andadvantages of the present invention will become more apparent from thefollowing detailed description of the preferred embodiments withreference to the attached drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a feeder 1 which performs a method of feedingelectronic components according to a Preferred Embodiment 1 of thepresent invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a vibration imparting mechanism 11 incorporatedin feeder 1 shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of feeder 1 which is taken along the lineIII-III in FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a plan view schematically showing an example operation offeeder 1 shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view schematically showing electronic components3, which are fed into, and an electronic component 3, which is to be fedinto, accommodation holes 4 of an accommodation plate 2 in feeder 1shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view for illustrating an allowable range of adimension of projection P of electronic component 3 fed intoaccommodation hole 4 from a main surface 6 of accommodation plate 2.

FIG. 7 shows a relationship between a filling rate of electroniccomponents and an elapsed time, which is determined in an experiment inwhich the feeding method with feeder 1 shown in FIG. 1 was conducted.

FIG. 8 shows a relationship between a rate of filling with electroniccomponents and a ratio of loading electronic components, which isdetermined by experiment for an example in which the feeding method withfeeder 1 shown in FIG. 1 was conducted and for a comparative example inwhich a feeding method using oscillation of an accommodation plate, asdescribed in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2004-359512, was conducted.

FIG. 9 is a view for illustrating another example operation of feeder 1shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 10 is a view for illustrating still another example operation offeeder 1 shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 11 is a sectional view of a portion of a feeder which performs amethod of feeding electronic components according to a PreferredEmbodiment 2 of the present invention, which corresponds to FIG. 5.

FIG. 12 is a perspective view schematically showing an electroniccomponent 3 for illustrating the preferred embodiment of the presentinvention shown in FIG. 11.

FIG. 13 is a plan view of an opening 5 of an accommodation hole 4 forillustrating the preferred embodiment of the present invention shown inFIG. 11.

FIG. 14 is a sectional view showing a first irregular state occurring inthe preferred embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 11.

FIG. 15 is a sectional view showing a second irregular state occurringin the preferred embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 11.

FIG. 16 is a sectional view of a portion of a feeder which performs amethod of feeding electronic components according to a PreferredEmbodiment 3 of the present invention, which corresponds to FIG. 5.

FIG. 17 is a plan view schematically showing an accommodation plate 2 ofa feeder which performs a method of feeding electronic componentsaccording to a Preferred Embodiment 4 of the present invention.

FIG. 18 is a plan view schematically showing accommodation plates 2 aand 2 b of a feeder which performs a method of feeding electroniccomponents according to a Preferred Embodiment 5 of the presentinvention.

FIG. 19 is a plan view schematically showing accommodation plates 2 cand 2 d of a feeder which performs a method of feeding electroniccomponents according to a Preferred Embodiment 6 of the presentinvention.

FIG. 20 is a sectional view of a feeder 1 a which performs a method offeeding electronic components according to a Preferred Embodiment 7 ofthe present invention, which corresponds to FIG. 3.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Hereinbelow, the present invention will be described with reference topreferred embodiments while referring to the drawings. The same orcorresponding portions have the same reference characters in thedrawings, and overlapping description will not be repeated.

A configuration of a feeder 1 which performs a method of feedingelectronic components according to a Preferred Embodiment 1 of thepresent invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5.

Feeder 1 includes an accommodation plate 2. Accommodation plate 2includes a plurality of accommodation holes 4, each of whichaccommodates a corresponding one of electronic components 3 (see FIG.5). FIG. 1 does not show all of accommodation holes 4 but merely showssome of them. Respective openings 5 of accommodation holes 4 aredistributed over a main surface 6 of accommodation plate 2 while beingarranged in a row direction and a column direction. A frame member 7 isdisposed on the periphery of main surface 6 of accommodation plate 2,which prevents electronic components 3 loaded onto main surface 6 ofaccommodation plate 2 from falling out of accommodation plate 2.

In the present preferred embodiment, electronic components 3 are fedinto their corresponding accommodation holes 4 one by one. Whenelectronic components 3 fed into accommodation holes 4 are electroniccomponents as finished products, electronic components 3 are held onaccommodation plate 2 while being aligned with each other, which isconvenient to supply the electronic components to, for example, acharacteristic measuring step or a packaging step. Also, when electroniccomponents 3 fed into accommodation holes 4 are chip-shaped electroniccomponent bodies before being provided with external electrodes, theelectronic component bodies are held on accommodation plate 2 whilebeing aligned with each other, which is convenient to supply theelectronic component bodies to the step for forming external electrodes.

Accommodation plate 2 preferably includes an upper plate 8, in whichaccommodation hole 4 is defined as a through-hole, and a lower plate 9,which defines and functions as a bottom wall of accommodation hole 4. Inthis case, several types of upper plates 8 having different thicknessdimensions or different opening dimensions of accommodation holes 4 areprepared, so that a change in the dimension or shape of electroniccomponent 3 to be handled is able to be accommodated promptly with lowerplate 9 being shared among upper plates 8.

Feeder 1 includes a base 10 supporting accommodation plate 2 describedabove. Base 10 maintains main surface 6 of accommodation plate 2 level.In the following description, as shown in a margin of each of FIGS. 1 to5, an X-axis direction and a Y-axis direction are orthogonal orsubstantially orthogonal to each other on a horizontal plane, and aZ-axis direction is orthogonal or substantially orthogonal to both ofthe X-axis direction and the Y-axis direction.

Base 10 and accommodation plate 2 are coupled to each other with avibration imparting mechanism 11, which will be described below indetail, therebetween.

Mainly referring to FIG. 2, first, vibration imparting mechanism 11includes a Y-axis direction vibrating mechanism 11Y that providesvibrations in the Y-axis direction to accommodation plate 2 (in FIG. 2,indicated by an imaginary line). Y-axis direction vibrating mechanism11Y includes four brackets 12 to 15 provided on base 10, a leaf spring16 provided across brackets 12 and 13, a leaf spring 17 provided acrossbrackets 14 and 15, piezoelectric devices 18 and 19 attached to thevicinities of the longitudinal ends of leaf springs 16 and 17,respectively, and Y-axis vibration transmission rods 22 and 23 coupledto the longitudinal central portions of leaf springs 16 and 17 withcoupling spacers 20 and 21 therebetween, respectively.

In Y-axis direction vibrating mechanism 11Y, an AC voltage having aprescribed frequency is applied to piezoelectric devices 18 and 19 inorder to provide vibrations in the Y-axis direction to accommodationplate 2. Consequently, leaf springs 16 and 17 deform while curving inthe same direction in synchronization with each other with the number ofvibrations corresponding to the frequency. Such curvature deformation istransmitted to Y-axis vibration transmission rods 22 and 23 throughcoupling spacers 20 and 21, respectively, thus vibrating Y-axisvibration transmission rods 22 and 23 in the Y-axis direction with thenumber of vibrations.

Vibration imparting mechanism 11 also includes an X-axis directionvibrating mechanism 11X that provides vibrations in the X-axis directionto accommodation plate 2. X-axis direction vibrating mechanism 11Xincludes leaf springs 24 and 25 each provided across the longitudinalends of Y-axis vibration transmission rods 22 and 23, piezoelectricdevices 26 and 27 attached to the vicinities of the longitudinal ends ofleaf springs 24 and 25, respectively, and X-axis vibration transmissionrods 30 and 31 coupled to the longitudinal central portions of leafsprings 24 and 25 with coupling spacers 28 and 29 therebetween,respectively. The longitudinal ends of X-axis vibration transmissionrods 30 and 31 are coupled to each other by coupling rods 32 and 33.

In X-axis direction vibrating mechanism 11X, an AC voltage having aprescribed frequency is applied to piezoelectric devices 26 and 27 inorder to provide vibrations in the X-axis direction to accommodationplate 2. Consequently, leaf springs 24 and 25 deform while curving inthe same direction in synchronization with each other with the number ofvibrations corresponding to the frequency. Such curvature deformation istransmitted to X-axis vibration transmission rods 30 and 31 throughcoupling spacers 28 and 29, thus vibrating X-axis vibration transmissionrods 30 and 31 in the X-axis direction with the number of vibrations.

Vibration imparting mechanism 11 further includes a Z-axis directionvibrating mechanism 11Z that provides vibrations in the Z-axis directionto accommodation plate 2. Z-axis direction vibrating mechanism 11Zincludes leaf springs 34 and 35 each provided across the longitudinalcentral portions of X-axis vibration transmission rods 30 and 31,piezoelectric devices 36 and 37 attached to the vicinities of thelongitudinal ends of leaf springs 34 and 35, respectively, and apedestal 38 provided between the longitudinal central portions of leafsprings 34 and 35. Accommodation plate 2 is attached on pedestal 38.

In Z-axis direction vibrating mechanism 11Z, an AC voltage having aprescribed frequency is applied to piezoelectric devices 36 and 37 inorder to provide vibrations in the Z-axis direction to accommodationplate 2. Consequently, leaf springs 34 and 35 deform while curving inthe same direction in synchronization with each other with the number ofvibrations corresponding to the frequency. Such curvature deformation istransmitted to accommodation plate 2 through pedestal 38, thus vibratingaccommodation plate 2 in the Z-axis direction with the number ofvibrations.

Although description has been provided of the transmission of thevibrations in the Y-axis direction by Y-axis direction vibratingmechanism 11Y to Y-axis vibration transmission rods 22 and 23, thevibrations in the Y-axis direction of Y-axis vibration transmission rods22 and 23 are transmitted to accommodation plate 2 through leaf springs24 and 25, coupling spacers 28 and 29, X-axis vibration transmissionrods 30 and 31, leaf springs 34 and 35, and pedestal 38 in order.

Also, though description has been provided of the transmission of thevibrations in the X-axis direction by X-axis direction vibratingmechanism 11X to X-axis vibration transmission rods 30 and 31, thevibrations in the X-axis direction of X-axis vibration transmission rods30 and 31 are transmitted to accommodation plate 2 through leaf springs34 and 35 and pedestal 38 in order.

As described above, the vibrations in the X-axis direction, the Y-axisdirection, and the Z-axis direction are applied to accommodation plate 2by X-axis direction vibrating mechanism 11X, Y-axis direction vibratingmechanism 11Y, and Z-axis direction vibrating mechanism 11Z,respectively. In feeding of electronic components 3 into accommodationholes 4 with feeder 1, for example, only any one of X-axis directionvibrating mechanism 11X and Y-axis direction vibrating mechanism 11Y isdriven in order to provide a horizontal vibration, and Z-axis directionvibrating mechanism 11Z is driven in order to provide a verticalvibration. Although the operation of feeder 1 will be described below toclarify a feeding method according to a Preferred Embodiment 1 of thepresent invention, the following description assumes that only X-axisdirection vibrating mechanism 11X is driven in order to provide ahorizontal vibration.

In executing the feeding method, first, accommodation plate 2 is placedin feeder 1 as shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, and electronic components 3 areloaded onto main surface 6 of accommodation plate 2. This state isschematically shown in FIG. 4(1). As seen in part (1) of FIG. 4,electronic components 3 are loaded while being bunched up to, forexample, the left portion of main surface 6 of accommodation plate 2.

Parts (1) to (4) of FIG. 4 show no accommodation holes 4. In parts (1)to (4) of FIG. 4, an aggregate of electronic components 3 is shown as anelectronic component group 3A. In one example, when 2646 accommodationholes 4 are provided in 49 rows and 54 columns in accommodation plate 2,about 4000 electronic components 3, that is about 1.5 times as many asaccommodation holes 4, are loaded onto main surface 6 of accommodationplate 2.

Electronic component 3 in the present preferred embodiment preferablyhas, for example, a chip shape, which has a planar dimension of about0.25 mm×about 0.125 mm and a thickness dimension of about 0.125 mm orless at minimum and has a planar dimension of about 5.7 mm×about 5.0 mmand a thickness dimension of about 5.0 mm or less at maximum.

Subsequently, X-axis direction vibrating mechanism 11X and Z-axisdirection vibrating mechanism 11Z are driven with main surface 6 ofaccommodation plate 2 maintained level. That is to say, the horizontalvibration in the X-axis direction and the vertical vibration in theZ-axis direction are applied to accommodation plate 2. This causeselectronic components 3 to move in the direction of arrows 39 which isthe X-axis direction as shown in part (1) of FIG. 4 along main surface 6of accommodation plate 2 while showing electronic component group 3A asa single mass. Then, during this movement, electronic components 3 arefed into their corresponding accommodation holes 4 one by one as shownin FIG. 5.

Preferably, the horizontal vibration and the vertical vibrationdescribed above have an equal or substantially equal number ofvibrations and have a prescribed phase difference therebetween.Consequently, the horizontal vibration and the vertical vibration arecombined into a vibration that provides an elliptical orbit, and thedirection of the major axis of the ellipse is directed to obliquelyintersect with main surface 6 of accommodation plate 2. The vibrationhaving the elliptical orbit in such an oblique direction defines andfunctions as a drive source, and when electronic component 3 moves inthe direction indicated by arrows 39 in part (1) of FIG. 4 and FIG. 5and is aligned with an empty accommodation hole 4, electronic component3 is fed into this accommodation hole 4 as shown in the right portion ofFIG. 5.

The number of vibrations of the horizontal vibration and the verticalvibration is preferably, for example, about 50 Hz or more. Setting thenumber of vibrations to about 50 Hz or more increases the speed at whichelectronic components 3 move on accommodation plate 2. The amplitude ofeach of the horizontal vibration and the vertical vibration is selectedso as to prevent a drawback that, for example, electronic component 3which has been fed into accommodation hole 4 fall out of accommodationhole 4. For example, the amplitude is set to about 0.05 mm or more andabout 0.5 mm or less, and preferably, about 0.05 mm or more and about0.15 mm or less.

In the present preferred embodiment, one electronic component 3 is to befed into one accommodation hole 4. In this case, as shown from FIG. 5,the depth dimension of accommodation hole 4 is preferably equal orsubstantially equal to the length dimension of the longest side amongthe outside dimensions of electronic component 3. With such aconfiguration, one surface of electronic component 3 fed intoaccommodation hole 4 is aligned with opening 5 of accommodation hole 4and supports electronic component 3, which is about to pass throughaccommodation hole 4 next, and make a movement path thereof flatter.Thus, a succeeding electronic component 3 is able to be moved smoothlyon accommodation plate 2.

The above advantageous operations and effects are achieved moreremarkably when electronic component 3 has a rectangular orsubstantially rectangular parallelepiped shape defined by a lengthdimension, a width dimension, and a thickness dimension measured in thelength direction, the width direction, and the thickness directionorthogonal or substantially orthogonal to each other, respectively, andwhen the length dimension is largest among the length dimension, thewidth dimension, and the thickness dimension.

In the present preferred embodiment, a dimension of the opening ofaccommodation hole 4 is preferably selected so as not to accept thelength dimension and so as to accept the width dimension and thethickness dimension. This allows electronic component 3 to be always fedinto accommodation hole 4 in an appropriate orientation. Also, adisadvantage that electronic component 3 fed into accommodation hole 4falls out of accommodation hole 4 due to, for example, the verticalvibration of accommodation plate 2 is less likely to occur.

As a result of the movement of electronic component group 3A in thedirection of arrows 39 as shown in part (1) of FIG. 4, as shown in part(2) of FIG. 4, electronic component group 3A is bunched up to the rightportion of main surface 6 of accommodation plate 2. Since electroniccomponents 3 are fed into accommodation holes 4 during this movement,electronic components 3 that reach the right portion of main surface 6of accommodation plate 2 are fewer than electronic components 3originally loaded. Also, normally at this stage, all of accommodationholes 4 are not filled with electronic components 3, and severalaccommodation holes 4 are left empty.

Subsequently, in order to feed electronic components 3 intoaccommodation holes 4 that have been left empty, as indicated by arrows40 in the X-axis direction in part (2) of FIG. 4, electronic componentgroup 3A is moved in the opposite direction on accommodation plate 2.This opposite movement is achieved by reversing the phase differencebetween the horizontal vibration and the vertical vibration provided toaccommodation plate 2 to be plus or minus. During this movement ofelectronic component group 3A in the direction of arrows 40, electroniccomponents 3 are fed into accommodation holes 4 yet to be filled.

A period of time to perform the step of moving in the direction ofarrows 40 is normally made shorter than a period of time for performingthe step of moving in the direction of arrows 39 described above. Inother words, the speed of movement in the direction of arrows 40 ishigher than the speed of movement in the direction of arrows 39. At thestage at which the step of moving in the direction of arrows 40 is aboutto be performed, remaining electronic components 3 which have not beenfed into accommodation holes 4 are fewer than electronic components 3originally loaded. Such a change in the speed of movement is achieved bychanging a phase difference between the horizontal vibration and thevertical vibration or changing the amplitudes of the horizontalvibration and the vertical vibration to further increase a vibrationcomponent in the horizontal direction, that is, the X-axis direction.

As a result of the movement of electronic component group 3A in thedirection of arrows 40 shown in part (2) of FIG. 4, as shown in part (3)of FIG. 4, electronic component group 3A is bunched up to the leftportion of main surface 6 of accommodation plate 2. Also at this stage,some accommodation holes 4 may still be left empty, and when all ofaccommodation holes 4 need to be filled with electronic components 3,electronic component group 3A is moved in the direction indicated byarrows 41 shown in part (3) of FIG. 4, and as shown in part (4) of FIG.4, electronic component group 3A is bunched up to the right portion ofmain surface 6 of accommodation plate 2 again. Further, switching of thedirection in which electronic component group 3A moves may be repeatedas necessary.

As shown in FIG. 5 described above, the depth dimension of accommodationhole 4 is preferably equal or substantially equal to the lengthdimension which is largest among the outside dimensions of electroniccomponent 3 in order to cause a surface of electronic component 3 fedinto accommodation hole 4 to be aligned with opening 5 of accommodationhole 4 and support electronic component 3, which is about to passthrough the relevant accommodation hole 4, and make the movement paththereof flatter. In actuality, however, loss of the above function isable to be prevented if the length dimension of electronic component 3is slightly larger than the depth dimension of accommodation hole 4.

Referring to FIG. 6, the above function is not impaired if a dimensionof projection P of electronic component 3 fed into accommodation hole 4from main surface 6 of accommodation plate 2 is preferably about 0.1 mmor less, for example. The dimension of about 0.1 mm is about twice theamplitude of the vibration in the vertical direction (Z-axis direction).

An experimental example in which electronic components 3 were fed usingfeeder 1 will be described with reference to FIG. 4. In thisexperimental example, electronic components 3 each having a planardimension of about 3.2 mm×about 2.5 mm were used. Accommodation plate 2with 2646 accommodation holes 4 in 49 rows and 54 columns was used. Ahorizontal vibration and a vertical vibration having the number ofvibrations of about 80 Hz and having an amplitude in the range of about0.05 mm to about 0.5 mm were applied to accommodation plate 2.

First, as shown in part (1) of FIG. 4, about 4000 electronic components3, that is about 1.5 times as many as accommodation holes 4, were loadedonto main surface 6 of accommodation plate 2 while being bunched up tothe left portion of main surface 6.

Subsequently, a horizontal vibration and a vertical vibration wereapplied to accommodation plate 2 to move electronic component group 3Ain the direction of arrows 39 in part (1) of FIG. 4. Consequently, aftera lapse of about 21 seconds, electronic component group 3A moved in amanner of being bunched up to the right portion of main surface 6 ofaccommodation plate 2, as shown in part (2) of FIG. 4. At this time, 52accommodation holes 4 remained yet to be filled. That is to say, afilling rate of about 98.0% was obtained as shown in FIG. 7.

Subsequently, electronic component group 3A was moved in the directionof arrows 40 in part (2) of FIG. 4. Consequently, after a lapse of about30 seconds, electronic component group 3A moved in a manner of beingbunched up to the left portion of main surface 6 of accommodation plate2 as shown in part (3) of FIG. 4. At this time, eight accommodationholes 4 remained yet to be filled. That is to say, a filling rate ofabout 99.7% was obtained as shown in FIG. 7.

Subsequently, electronic component group 3A was moved in the directionof arrows 41 in part (3) FIG. 4. Consequently, after a lapse of about 40seconds, electronic component group 3A moved in a manner of beingbunched up to the right portion of main surface 6 of accommodation plate2 as shown in part (4) of FIG. 4. At this stage, there were noaccommodation holes 4 yet to be filled, and a filling rate of 100% wasobtained as shown in FIG. 7.

The experimental example described above confirmed that when electroniccomponents 3 about 1.5 as many as accommodation holes 4 are fed, thatis, a loading ratio is about 1.5 times, a filling rate of 100% isobtained after a lapse of about 40 seconds. Thus, an experiment wasattempted to investigate what extent of filling rate is obtained when aloading ratio is changed while fixing a feeding time of electroniccomponents 3 at about 40 seconds.

For this experimental example, a feeding method with feeder 1, in whichthe data of FIG. 7 was obtained, was performed in the example within thescope of a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Contrastingly,for a comparative example outside the scope of a preferred embodiment ofthe present invention, a feeding method employing oscillations of anaccommodation plate as described in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No.2004-359512 was performed. In the comparative example, an oscillatingangle of the accommodation plate was about 10 degrees to about 20degrees, the accommodation plate oscillated to and fro three times every40 seconds, and a vibration of about 20 Hz was applied in the directionof the axis of oscillation.

FIG. 8 shows a relationship between a rate of filling with electroniccomponents and a ratio of loading electronic components, which wasobtained by experiment for the example and the comparative example. FIG.8 reveals that when a feeding operation was performed for about 40seconds, a filling rate of 100% was obtained by setting the loadingratio to about 1.2 times or more in the example, while in thecomparative example, a filling rate of 100% was not obtained even bydoubling the loading ratio, and a filling rate of 100% was obtainedfinally by tripling the loading ratio.

Thus, the example can maintain a low loading ratio, which is required toobtain a filling rate of 100%.

In the example, the occurrence of a fracture or a chip of an electroniccomponent fed into an accommodation hole was investigated. Consequently,in the comparative example, a fracture or a chip appeared as relativelylarge damage, and an extent of the damage caused by a fracture or a chipwas higher and damage occurred more frequently as the loading ratioincreased. Contrastingly, in the example, the occurrence of a fractureor a chip increased very little even when the loading ratio becamehigher, and even when a fracture or a chip occurred, a degree of damagewas lower, and the occurrence of a fracture or a chip was lower than inthe comparative example.

Although only X-axis direction vibrating mechanism 11X was driven inorder to provide a horizontal vibration to accommodation plate 2 in theabove-described preferred embodiment, only Y-axis direction vibratingmechanism 11Y may be driven, or both of X-axis direction vibratingmechanism 11X and Y-axis direction vibrating mechanism 11Y may bedriven.

FIG. 9 shows a case in which only Y-axis direction vibrating mechanism11Y is driven in order to provide a horizontal vibration toaccommodation plate 2. In this case, electronic component group 3A movesin the direction of arrows 43 which is the Y-axis direction. A phasedifference between the horizontal vibration by Y-axis directionvibrating mechanism 11Y and the vertical vibration by Z-axis directionvibrating mechanism 11Z is reversed to be plus or minus, so thatelectronic component group 3A moves in the Y-axis direction opposite tothe direction of arrows 43.

FIG. 10 shows a case in which both of X-axis direction vibratingmechanism 11X and Y-axis direction vibrating mechanism 11Y are driven inorder to provide a horizontal vibration to accommodation plate 2. Inthis case, electronic component group 3A moves in the direction ofarrows 44 oblique to both of the X-axis and the Y-axis. At this time,the direction of arrows 44 is able to be changed by adjusting at leastone of the amplitude of the horizontal vibration by X-axis directionvibrating mechanism 11X and the amplitude of the horizontal vibration byY-axis direction vibrating mechanism 11Y.

It is seen by referring to FIGS. 4, 9, and 10 described above thatelectronic component group 3A on accommodation plate 2 is able to bemoved in any appropriate horizontal direction. This can be used todevelop a preferred embodiment of the present invention as describedbelow.

That is to say, each of electronic components 3 is fed into acorresponding one of accommodation holes 4 by applying vibrations toaccommodation plate 2, and then, the step of finding accommodation holes4 yet to be filled, into which no electronic components 3 have been fed,is performed. In order to perform this step, for example, a camera isinstalled in feeder 1 to detect accommodation holes 4 yet to be filled,using the camera. Subsequently, the following step is further performed:electronic components 3 which have not been fed into accommodation holes4 and remain on main surface 6 of accommodation plate 2 are moved towardaccommodation holes 4 yet to be filled. The present preferred embodimentis able to increase the rate of filling accommodation holes 4 withelectronic components 3 in a short period of time.

A Preferred Embodiment 2 of the present invention will now be describedwith reference to FIGS. 11 to 13. FIG. 11 is a sectional viewcorresponding to FIG. 5. FIG. 12 is a perspective view schematicallyshowing appearance of electronic component 3. FIG. 13 is a plan view ofopening 5 of accommodation hole 4.

The Preferred Embodiment 2 differs from the Preferred Embodiment 1 inthe orientation of electronic component 3 which is accommodated inaccommodation hole 4. Although electronic component 3 has a rectangularor substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape as described above, inmore detail with reference to FIG. 12, electronic component 3 has arectangular or substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape defined bya length dimension L, a width dimension W, and a thickness dimension Tmeasured in the length direction, the width direction, and the thicknessdirection orthogonal or substantially orthogonal to each other,respectively, and length dimension L is largest among length directionL, width direction W, and thickness direction T. Also, width dimension Wis larger than thickness dimension T.

As shown in FIG. 11, the depth dimension of accommodation hole 4 ispreferably equal or substantially equal to thickness dimension T ofelectronic component 3 shown in FIG. 12. Also, dimensions A and B ofopening 5 of accommodation hole 4 shown in FIG. 13 are selected so as toaccept length dimension L and width dimension W of electronic component3, respectively. Opening 5 of accommodation hole 4 is thus able toaccept an LW surface defined by length dimension L and width dimension Wof electronic component 3, and accordingly, electronic component 3 isfed into accommodation hole 4 with an LW surface, defined by lengthdimension L and width dimension W thereof, extending along opening 5 ofaccommodation hole 4.

As described above, the fact that opening 5 of accommodation hole 4 isable to accept the LW surface of electronic component 3 means thatopening 5 is able to accept a WT surface defined by width dimension Wand thickness dimension T and an LT surface defined by length dimensionL and thickness dimension T, which are smaller than the LW surface. Inthe present preferred embodiment, thus, the following irregular statemay occur for feeding of electronic components 3 into accommodationholes 4: a plurality of electronic components 3 may be fed into oneaccommodation hole 4 as shown in FIG. 14, or electronic component 3 maybe fed into accommodation hole 4 in an orientation other than theregular orientation.

In FIG. 14, two electronic components 3 are fed into one accommodationhole 4 with WT surfaces thereof facing upward and LW surfaces thereoffacing each other. In FIG. 15, though one electronic component 3 is fedinto accommodation hole 4, the LT surface faces upward.

When such an irregular state occurs, the amplitude of at least thevertical vibration is increased further in the step of applyingvibrations to accommodation plate 2. In this case, for example, theamplitude of the vertical vibration is selected such that electroniccomponent 3 in the regular state does not fall out of accommodation hole4 and electronic component 3 in the irregular state does fall out ofaccommodation hole 4. The center of gravity of each of electroniccomponents 3 in the irregular state shown in FIGS. 14 and 15 is locatedat a position higher than the center of gravity of electronic component3 in accommodation hole 4 which is in the regular state shown in FIG.11. Thus, only electronic component 3 in the irregular state is allowedto fall out of accommodation hole 4 by further increasing the amplitudeof the vertical vibration while applying a horizontal vibration, andthereafter, electronic component 3 is able to be fed into accommodationhole 4 in the regular state as shown in FIG. 11.

When electronic component 3 to be handled has width dimension W andthickness dimension T equal or substantially equal to each other, thestate shown in FIG. 15 is not the irregular state. The PreferredEmbodiment 2 is accordingly suitable for handling electronic component 3having width dimension W and thickness dimension T equal orsubstantially equal to each other.

A Preferred Embodiment 3 of the present invention will now be describedwith reference to FIG. 16. Although one electronic component 3 is fedinto one accommodation hole 4 in the step of feeding each of electroniccomponents 3 into a corresponding one of accommodation holes 4 in thepreferred embodiment described above, a plurality of electroniccomponents 3 are fed into one accommodation hole 4 in the presentpreferred embodiment, as shown in FIG. 16.

The present preferred embodiment shown in FIG. 16 is advantageouslyapplied to a case in which a large number of electronic components 3 aredivided into a plurality of groups. For example, a large number of greenceramic element bodies as electronic components 3 are firedsimultaneously in the firing step performed to produce ceramicelectronic components, where the large number of ceramic element bodiesis preferably arranged at the most uniform possible density in order toprevent uneven firing. At this time, through application of the presentpreferred embodiment shown in FIG. 16, a large number of ceramic elementbodies is able to be disposed at a substantially uniform density byarranging an appropriate number of ceramic element bodies as electroniccomponents 3, each of which has been fed into a corresponding one ofaccommodation holes 3, in a firing furnace while maintaining apositional relationship without any change.

A Preferred Embodiment 4 of the present invention will now be describedwith reference to FIG. 17. It is intended in the Preferred Embodiment 4that a plurality of electronic components 3 are fed into oneaccommodation hole 4 as in the Preferred Embodiment 3 described above.

In the Preferred Embodiment 4, accommodation hole 4 includes alongitudinal opening 5 into which a plurality of electronic components 3are able to be fed in a column. In the present preferred embodiment,electronic components 3 which have been fed into accommodation hole 4are aligned, thus efficiently performing, for example, the step ofsupplying electronic components 3 which may be performed after thefeeding step.

A Preferred Embodiment 5 of the present invention will now be describedwith reference to FIG. 18. The Preferred Embodiment 5 is characterizedby the use of a plurality of, for example, two accommodation plates 2 aand 2 b. The two accommodation plates 2 a and 2 b are disposed such thattheir main surfaces 6 are flush with each other. In this state, a commonvibration imparting mechanism (not shown) applies horizontal vibrationsand vertical vibrations simultaneously to the two accommodation plates 2a and 2 b. FIGS. 18 and 19, which will be described below, show noaccommodation holes 4 as in parts (1) to (4) of FIG. 4.

As shown in FIG. 18, first and second standby areas 45 and 46 areprovided at opposite ends of the two accommodation plates 2 a and 2 b inthe direction in which accommodation plates 2 a and 2 b are arranged,and the two accommodation plates 2 a and 2 b and first and secondstandby areas 45 and 46 are surrounded by a common frame member 7.

In FIG. 18, an aggregate of a plurality of electronic components 3 isshown as an electronic component group 3A. First, electronic components3 are loaded in, for example, first standby area 45. Subsequently,horizontal vibrations in the X-axis direction and vertical vibrations inthe Z-axis direction are applied to accommodation plates 2 a and 2 b.Consequently, electronic components 3 move in the direction of arrows 47along main surface 6 of accommodation plate 2 a and then along mainsurface 6 of accommodation plate 2 b while forming electronic componentgroup 3A as a single mass.

As a result of the movement of electronic component group 3A in thedirection of arrows 47, electronic component group 3A reaches secondstandby area 46. In the course of this movement, electronic components 3are fed into accommodation holes 4 of accommodation plate 2 a and theninto accommodation holes 4 of accommodation plate 2 b. Thus, electroniccomponents 3 that reach second standby area 46 are fewer than electroniccomponents 3 originally loaded. At this stage, normally, all ofaccommodation holes 4 are not filled with electronic components 3, andsome accommodation holes 4 are left empty.

Subsequently, the phase difference between the horizontal vibrations andthe vertical vibrations provided to accommodation plates 2 a and 2 b isreversed to be plus or minus, causing electronic component group 3A tomove from second standby area 46 toward first standby area 45. Duringthis movement, electronic components 3 are fed into accommodation holes4 yet to be filled.

Thereafter, the movement of electronic component group 3A is repeated asmany times as required.

It is preferable in the present preferred embodiment that accommodationplates 2 a and 2 b be removable individually from the feeder. With sucha preferable configuration, accommodation plates 2 a and 2 b are able tobe sequentially sent to a following step starting from any accommodationplate in which accommodation holes 4 have been filled with electroniccomponents 3, enabling efficient process steps. Also, any one ofaccommodation plate 2 a or 2 b is removed, and then, an emptyaccommodation plate that replaces the removed accommodation plate isprovided.

A Preferred Embodiment 6 will now be described with reference to FIG.19. In the Preferred Embodiment 6, a plurality of, for example, twoaccommodation plates 2 c and 2 d are provided as in the PreferredEmbodiment 5. A difference of the Preferred Embodiment 6 from thePreferred Embodiment 5 will be described below.

As shown in FIG. 19, first and second standby areas 48 and 49 areprovided at opposite ends of two accommodation plates 2 c and 2 d in thedirection orthogonal or substantially orthogonal to the direction inwhich accommodation plates 2 c and 2 d are arranged, and the twoaccommodation plates 2 c and 2 d and first and second standby areas 48and 49 are surrounded by a common frame member 7.

In FIG. 19, an aggregate of electronic components 3 is shown aselectronic component group 3A. First, electronic components 3 are loadedin, for example, first standby area 48. Subsequently, horizontalvibrations in the Y-axis direction and vertical vibrations in the Z-axisdirection are applied to accommodation plates 2 c and 2 d. Consequently,electronic components 3 move in the direction of arrows 50 over mainsurface 6 of each of accommodation plates 2 c and 2 d while showingelectronic component group 3A as a single mass.

As a result of the movement of electronic component group 3A in thedirection of arrows 50 described above, electronic component group 3Areaches second standby area 49. In the course of this movement,electronic components 3 are fed into accommodation holes 4 ofaccommodation plates 2 c and 2 d. Thus, electronic components 3 thatreach second standby area 49 are fewer than electronic components 3originally loaded. At this stage, normally, all of accommodation holes 4are not filled with electronic components 3, and some accommodationholes 4 are left empty.

Subsequently, the phase difference between the horizontal vibrations andthe vertical vibrations provided to accommodation plates 2 c and 2 d isreversed to be plus or minus, causing electronic component group 3A tomove from second standby area 49 toward first standby area 48. Duringthis movement, electronic components 3 are fed into accommodation holes4 yet to be filled.

Thereafter, the movement of electronic component group 3A is repeated asmany times as required.

It is preferable also in the present preferred embodiment thataccommodation plates 2 a and 2 b be removable individually from thefeeder to enable efficient process steps.

Other configurations as well as other advantageous operations andeffects of the Preferred Embodiment 6 are the same or substantially thesame as those of the Preferred Embodiment 5.

A Preferred Embodiment 7 of the present invention will now be describedwith reference to FIG. 20. FIG. 20 corresponds to FIG. 3 showing thePreferred Embodiment 1. In comparison with the Preferred Embodiment 1,in the Preferred Embodiment 7, accommodation plate 2 is easily removablefrom a feeder 1 a. The configurations in which the accommodation plateis removable from the feeder in the Preferred Embodiment 5 and thePreferred Embodiment 6 described above are easily achieved by providing,for example, the configuration of the Preferred Embodiment 7.

A support 51 is attached to pedestal 38 in feeder 1 a. Support 51includes a rising portion 52 in its periphery, and accommodation plate 2is disposed on support 51 while being fitted into rising portion 52 tobe positioned. Accommodation plate 2 includes upper plate 8 and lowerplate 9 as in the Preferred Embodiment 1.

The configuration in which an accommodation plate is removable may beachieved by a mechanical fitting structure of any other suitableconfiguration or by holding device using vacuum contact or magneticforce.

The preferred embodiments of the present invention described above areillustrative, and any modifications may be made within the scope of thepresent invention. For example, an electronic component to be handledmay have a shape other than a rectangular or substantially rectangularparallelepiped shape and may be an electronic component having a discshape, cylindrical shape, or prism shape, or a coil-shaped electroniccomponent including a helically wound wire.

Preferred embodiments of the present invention are also applicable to anoperation of simultaneously performing a feeding step on electroniccomponents of a plurality of types with the use of one or a plurality ofaccommodation plates including accommodation holes of a plurality shapesand sizes, thus sorting out electronic components for each type of anaccommodation hole.

The scope of the present invention is not limited to the preferredembodiments described above and includes preferred embodiments in whichthe configuration is partially replaced or the configurations arecombined.

While preferred embodiments of the present invention have been describedabove, it is to be understood that variations and modifications will beapparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the scopeand spirit of the present invention. The scope of the present invention,therefore, is to be determined solely by the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of feeding electronic components, themethod comprising: preparing an accommodation plate including aplurality of accommodation holes, respective openings of the pluralityof accommodation holes being distributed over a main surface of theaccommodation plate; loading a plurality of electronic components ontothe main surface of the accommodation plate; and applying a horizontalvibration in at least one of an X-axis direction and a Y-axis directionand a vertical vibration in a Z-axis direction to the accommodationplate while maintaining the main surface level, where the X-axisdirection and the Y-axis direction are orthogonal or substantiallyorthogonal to each other on a horizontal plane and the Z-axis directionis orthogonal or substantially orthogonal to both of the X-axisdirection and the Y-axis direction; wherein the applying of thevibrations to the accommodation plate includes: moving the plurality ofelectronic components over the main surface of the accommodation plate;and feeding each of the plurality of electronic components into acorresponding one of the plurality of accommodation holes while movingthe plurality of electronic components over the main surface of theaccommodation plate.
 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein thehorizontal vibration and the vertical vibration have an equal orsubstantially equal number of vibrations and have a prescribed phasedifference therebetween.
 3. The method according to claim 2, wherein thenumber of vibrations of the horizontal vibration and the verticalvibration is about 50 Hz or more.
 4. The method according to claim 2,wherein the applying of the vibrations to the accommodation plateincludes adjusting the phase difference between the horizontal vibrationand the vertical vibration.
 5. The method according to claim 4, whereinthe adjusting of the phase difference includes reversing the phasedifference to be plus or minus.
 6. The method according to claim 2,wherein the applying of the vibrations to the accommodation plateincludes adjusting an amplitude of at least one of the horizontalvibration and the vertical vibration.
 7. The method according to claim1, wherein one of the electronic components is to be fed into one of theaccommodation holes in the feeding of each of the plurality ofelectronic components into a corresponding one of the plurality ofaccommodation holes.
 8. The method according to claim 7, wherein each ofthe accommodation holes has a depth dimension equal or substantiallyequal to a length dimension of any one side among outside dimensions ofeach of the electronic components.
 9. The method according to claim 7,wherein each of the electronic components has a rectangular orsubstantially rectangular parallelepiped shape defined by a lengthdimension, a width dimension, and a thickness dimension measured in alength direction, a width direction, and a thickness directionorthogonal or substantially orthogonal to each other, respectively, andthe length dimension is largest among the length dimension, the widthdimension, and the thickness dimension.
 10. The method according toclaim 9, wherein a depth dimension of each of the accommodation holes isequal or substantially equal to the lengthwise dimension, and an openingof each of the accommodation holes is selected so as not to accommodatethe length dimension and so as to accommodate the width dimension andthe thickness dimension.
 11. The method according to claim 7, wherein inthe feeding of each of the plurality of electronic components into acorresponding one of the plurality of accommodation holes, an irregularstate in which some of the electronic components are fed into one of theaccommodation holes or the electronic components are fed into theaccommodation holes in an orientation other than a regular orientationis caused; and the applying of the vibrations to the accommodation plateincludes further increasing an amplitude of at least the verticalvibration to resolve the irregular state.
 12. The method according toclaim 1, wherein the applying of the vibrations to the accommodationplate further includes, after the feeding of each of the plurality ofelectronic components into a corresponding one of the plurality ofaccommodation holes: finding the accommodation holes yet to be filled,into which the electronic components have not been fed; and moving theelectronic components which have not been fed into the accommodationholes and remain on the main surface of the accommodation plate towardthe accommodation holes yet to be filled.
 13. The method according toclaim 1, wherein in the loading of the plurality of electroniccomponents onto the main surface of the accommodation plate, a largernumber of the electronic components than the accommodation holes areloaded.
 14. The method according to claim 1, wherein in the feeding ofeach of the plurality of electronic components into a corresponding oneof the plurality of accommodation holes, at least two of the electroniccomponents are to be fed into one of the accommodation holes.
 15. Themethod according to claim 14, wherein the one accommodation hole has alongitudinal opening which allows some of the electronic components tobe fed thereinto in a column.
 16. The method according to claim 1,further comprising removing the accommodation plate with some of theaccommodation holes filled with the electronic components.
 17. Themethod according to claim 16, wherein the preparing of the accommodationplate includes preparing a plurality of the accommodation plates; thefeeding of each of the plurality of electronic components into acorresponding one of the plurality of accommodation holes is performedwith a plurality of the main surfaces of the plurality of accommodationplates being flush with each other; and the removing of theaccommodation plate includes removing the plurality of accommodationplates at different points in time.
 18. An electronic component feederthat performs a method of feeding electronic components according toclaim
 1. 19. The electronic component feeder according to claim 18,wherein the horizontal vibration and the vertical vibration have anequal or substantially equal number of vibrations and have a prescribedphase difference therebetween.
 20. The electronic component feederaccording to claim 19, wherein the number of vibrations of thehorizontal vibration and the vertical vibration is about 50 Hz or more.